Republican Congressman Mike Coffman took a shot Thursday at his challenger for the 6th Congressional District, Democrat Andrew Romanoff, after a Quinnipiac poll showed support for the Affordable Care Act has dipped since November.

The poll showed that 60 percent of Colorado voters oppose Obamacare compared to 56 percent on Nov. 20. Only 37 percent support the ACA as of Thursday, compared to 40 percent in November.

“After nearly 350,000 Coloradans received health insurance cancellation notices thanks to Obamacare and a nonpartisan report found Obamacare would kill over 2 million jobs, it’s no wonder Coloradans are so opposed to this terrible piece of legislation,” Coffman said in a statement. “It’s amazing to me that after all of this news my opponent thinks Obamacare didn’t go far enough.”

Democrats, however, have said that number is misleading because the majority of those “cancellations” included offers to renew current plans.

Romanoff answered back, saying the focus should be on improving health care and not politics.

“The message from Colorado — in this poll and every other — is loud and clear: Stop playing politics. Start solving problems. Let’s work together to curb the cost and improve the quality of health care, instead of just pointing fingers and picking fights.”

Much of their ammunition comes straight from a Denver Post article last September by Washington correspondent Michael Riley. The Post article cited top Democratic sources saying the Obama administration “suggested a place for Romanoff might be found” in the executive branch. The implication was that the job would be available if Romanoff dropped any challenge to appointed Sen. Michael Bennet for the Colorado Democratic primary.

Challenger Andrew Romanoff took the state assembly vote with 60.4 percent of Democratic delgates Saturday. Current U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet took 39.6 percent of the delegates, a result his people said they were “thrilled” by.

Bennet had conceded the assembly victory to Romanoff long ago; Romanoff improved on his county assembly totals of about 57 percent. Democrats expected his more dedicated caucus followers to show up in force for the state assembly.

Now Romanoff must try to translate the big win into much larger numbers in the August Democratic primary. He must raise enough money to get ads on TV to challenge Bennet’s wide moneyraising lead; Romanoff has assured reporters he will raise enough to get on the airwaves.

Bennet needed only 30 percent to get on the August ballot. Romanoff will have top billing on the ballot as a result of his higher delegate total. Bennet had also circulated petitions around the state to get on the ballot an alternate way; his campaign said he would complete those petitions and turn them in as part of his grassroots organizing effort.

Democratic Senate challenger Andrew Romanoff said Tuesday that taxing Social Security wages above $100,000 should be one of the solutions to the huge trust fund’s looming crisis.

U.S. Senate challenger Andrew Romanoff suggests Social Security fix

Romanoff, challenging Sen. Michael Bennet for the Democratic nomination in August, was answering questions at a downtown Denver Lions Club luncheon when Social Security came up. Romanoff had joked that he’d start with an easy topic like immigration reform, then pretended to blanch at the Social Security third rail and seek a more pleasant line of questioning.

Still, Romanoff dove right in, as he often does. He had already provoked a bit of rumbling in the largely elderly Lions Club group by backing a “path to citizenship” as part of immigration reform. So he doubled down with Social Security, saying that among the fixes to the coming Baby Boomer retirement problem is raising the ceiling for taxes.

Currently, higher income earners stop paying the Social Security portion of their taxes after about $106,000 in income. Previous bipartisan commissions and studies have said that ceiling will need to be raised in order to keep the fund solvent as the wave of Baby Boomers is now beginning to retire.

“I believe Congress should expose incomes above $100,000 to the Social Security tax,” Romanoff said. Critics of the current ceiling said it makes the Social Security system a regressive tax by allowing the highest-income earners to pay a smaller overall percentage of taxes.

Romanoff added that he backs the idea of a new bipartisan commission modeled on the “base closure” commissions. Under that format, Congress charged the commission with making a list of unneeded bases, then agreed to vote up or down on the whole list rather than allow individual politicians to protect bases in their back yards. With Social Security, the commission could propose a list of solvency fixes and Congress would take or leave the whole package, pressuring members to agree.

Bennet has said in past interviews and campaign appearances that he favors such a commission to help fix Social Security. It’s not known whether he has commented specifically on the $100,000 ceiling.

This whole prediction thing ought to have some real mojo behind it, so why not hear from an au-then-tic New Year’s baby?

I was born Jan. 1, 1967, so that should give me an edge. (Though FYI, every time I made a months-out prediction in 2008, I was way off. Most tellingly: If I had been correct a year ago, it would have been Hillary vs. Romney on Nov. 4, and Hillary would have won. (And she would have.))

Here are my Baker’s Dozen.

1. Mayor John Hickenlooper will be our next senator.

In his absence, Denverites will be treated to a wild and crazy special election for his replacement. With no requirement for a runoff election, this one could go to a surprise candidate, but I’m predicting:

2. Former House Speaker Andrew Romanoff will be Denver’s new mayor.

I admit that I make this prediction because I think Hickenlooper would be a great senator for Colorado, and because I think Romanoff would continue the bipartisan and entrepreneurial leadership here in the Mile High City that Hickenlooper’s administration has given us.

3. Former Gov. Bill Owens will enter the senate race for 2010.

4. Former Rep. Tom Tancredo will launch a campaign to unseat Gov. Bill Ritter in 2010.

5. Barack Obama’s huge infrastructure and economic stimulus plan will help Colorado lawmakers find a way to craft a “Let’s Get Moving Again” campaign to add fees and tolls to back bonds and begin solving our transportation needs.

6. That bleepin’ Illinois governor kills Chicago’s chances to host the Summer Olympic Games in 2016, and our governor leverages Denver’s triumphant hosting of the Democratic National Convention to nail the Winter Olympics in 2018.

Wait, that’s two predictions. (I warned you I have struggled with this in the past.) So:

8. Obama and the Democratically controlled everything will add a total of $100 billion to the bailout loan package already given to American automakers.

9. It won’t do any good.

10. Comedian Al Franken will be Minnesota’s new senator, and that will be a hoot.

11. Republicans aren’t good at licking their wounds. They tire quickly of navel-gazing and prefer action. Watch for more coherent messages and strategies coming out of the Grand Old Party later in ’09.

12. Oprah Winfrey will lose those 40-odd pounds.

13. Britney Spears will fall off the wagon.

So we’ll see. But whatever happens, here’s hoping you have a Happy New Year!

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.